Since I have been reading the Times of London and the Telegraph every day for over a decade, I'm tempted to say that it serves them right. Still, it's a heartbreaking end to a noble tradition. My tutor is a public school old boy with degrees from Oxford and the system he uses is absolutely amazing. What a pity!

the intricacies of the aorist optative may finally lose their charms."

Never! I'm currently reading Lysias' "On the Murder of Eratosthenes" and what I've learnt about the optative from that speech alone beats months of slogging through assorted grammars.